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David Odenwald
17 articles

P-47M-1RE MiniArt

October 21, 2024 · in Aviation · · 21 · 110

Finally finished up the MiniArt P-47D-30 as a P-47M-1RE of the 56th Fighter Group aka Zemke's Wolfpack.

Thanks Louis@lgardner for the Tamiya decals. Raided my Tamiya bubbletop Jug for the M prop. Used a Quickboost resin C series R-2800 crankcase. Plus SAC metal landing gear. Other than that, it was straight out of the box with nary a problem.

Top color for this squadron is something of a can of worms. After seeing a few color photos decided a very dark blue was in order so settled on the dark sea blue Japan uses on their F-2s. Underside is Vallejo white aluminum and dark aluminum. Rudder was Insignia Red.

Was not going to get the SAC landing gear until I misplaced one from the kit. Ouch. But then when I tried to sit the plane on its legs, the tailwheel strut proved very weak so the SAC tailwheel strut was used. Then I found the missing gear leg in one of the P-47 In Action books acting as a bookmark. Uh, nothing to see here.

So here it is. It was a fun project. MiniArt should be congratulated on producing such a good kit. All screwups are mine.

Should add link to build article.
https://imodeler.com/groups/work-in-progress-aircraft/forum/topic/miniart-1-48-p-47m-1-re-thunderbolt/

Reader reactions:
9  Awesome 2  1  1 

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.


21 responses

  1. I just got a Hase P-47M off a certain auction site... still not sure what color to use. There's that persistent rumor about the burgundy auto paint that makes me wonder...

  2. Never seen a Jug finished this way. Very unique offering. Thanks much for sharing and great job.

  3. The question of the upper color for 61st Squadron P-47Ms is indeed vexing. Mike Gladych's crew chief made a model of that P-47M and painted it with the color they used, which was described as "very dark plum," with a reddish tinge; that color may have been used by the other Polish pilots in the squadron. Others have said both the dark blue as David did here, and also flat black are correct. There is no documentation about an official "squadron color," and apparently the airplanes were painted with whatever was available that the pilot liked. Basically, the answer now is, "use whichever color you think right and dare a doubter to prove you wrong with photographic evidence."

  4. Excellent P-47, David!

  5. The result of this Jug is superb, David @kahu
    Paintwork does look great.

    • Thank you. This was the first time I used the Vallejo metallics on such a large part of a kit and it went on pretty good. This was also my first time using Mr. Color for the upper surfaces and it also went on without a fuss.

  6. David, I see that you have chosen the same decoration as me for your P-47M-1-RE Thunderbolt, but on your side your realization is finished for a pleasant result 🙂

    Just a small remark if I may.

    The wire antenna connecting the rudder to the fuselage was removed on all allied aircraft operating in the ETO. The latter used a high band radio frequency system which made the wire antenna redundant. All the photos in the book by Nigel Julian and Peter Randall on the 56th FG confirm this. Thus, our P-47M-1-RE Thunderbolt s/n 44-21116 did not have a wire antenna.

    Bernard

    • Thanks Bernard, I just went looking through all the photos I have access to of P-47Ms and not a single one of them have the wire. Doh!

      Thankfully it is a simple fix. Hope to see what you do with your effort. Should be smashing.

  7. David Odenwald (@kahu)
    Your P-47 looks incredible ! I'm glad to see the decals I sent you were put to good use. I really like what you have done here. Like the others have mentioned, these colors are indeed a "big ol' can of worms"... But I believe yours is a very credible representation.

    I have one of these kits in the stash... so I was paying close attention to your build journal. It's a great looking kit in the box, and I'm very happy to hear the fit was very good. Thank you for letting us know about the problem you encountered with the tail wheel. I will be using the CA glue trick that Tom Cleaver described when I eventually build mine. Tom Cleaver (@tcinla)



    I had these pictures stored on my computer... I thought you would enjoy seeing them. I think you have nailed the color on yours personally, especially when you look at this first photo. I know the first photo is a colorized one. But it looks very good... More can of worms stuff for sure.

    You hit another home run here. I'm definitely clicking on several of the various "like" buttons.

    Well done !

  8. That's a great-looking Jug, and I like the colors you ended up with. Well done.

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